


Snapshots Of A Life Shared

by acquiescence_ (malawi)



Category: Harry Potter - Rowling
Genre: F/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2010-08-03
Updated: 2010-08-03
Packaged: 2017-10-10 22:13:51
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,497
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/104921
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/malawi/pseuds/acquiescence_
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>The history of a love affair.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Snapshots Of A Life Shared

"Come on, Freddie!" Katie calls over her shoulder as she races down toward the quidditch pitch, the twins following not far behind her.

The Gryffindor team is holding try-outs, as several players had graduated the year before. This could be her chance, she could prove herself, show them what she could do.

"George, keep up!" Laughter shining in her eyes and trailing behind her as she ran down to the pitch.

She sulks for days when she doesn't make the team, she's put on reserve while a seventh year takes one of the open chaser positions. She won't speak to either of the twins for days – they both made the team, like they were born to be beaters.

"Oh, come on, Katie," Fred is using his sing-song voice, the one that makes her want to punch him right that moment. She is supposed to be mad at him; he wouldn't have even tried out for the team if she hadn't urged him to.

"So you're never going to talk to me again?" Fred pouts, more than he needs to – just to show her how much she has wounded him. "Maybe someone will get injured; they'll have to put you in – won't they?" He says it like it'll cheer her up.

Katie just rolls her eyes, she's already thought of that – crossed her fingers and made silent prayers that someone will get hurt, not seriously just enough to let her play in one game – so they can all see her. But it probably won't happen; she'll just sit on the reserve list for the whole year, just waiting for her chance to play.

"You can't stay mad at me forever, Bell, who will be there to laugh at my jokes, or let me know when I'm getting a big head?" He nudges her with his shoulder.

She resists it, but she feels a grin spread across her face before she can remember to be upset with him. "I suppose you will need someone around to keep you from getting carried away with yourself now that you're a big quidditch star, won't you?"

* * *

  
"So what have you made this time?" Katie asks as she looks around the work room of _Weasleys' Wizard Wheezes_. She had stopped by to check in on the twins almost as soon school had let out.

"Oh just a little experiment with some new candies, like to try some?" Fred arches an eyebrow at her teasingly and offers out the brightly colored candy.

"No more first-years for you to experiment on these days?" She laughs and declines his offer of candy.

"Oi, Fred, have you—?" George came plodding into the room, and stops when he sees Katie standing there with Fred. "Bell! Haven't seen you in ages."

"Well school let out last week, and I thought I'd stop by and see how things were going for you two." _I've missed having you around_.

"And my charming brother is trying to get you to try our new candies, I see." George laughs. "He's just trying to get out of doing it himself." George casts a wink at her.

Fred ignores his brother's teasing and looks back at Katie. "So are you going to stick around for a while?" He won't admit it, at least not yet, but he's missed her.

Katie is still laughing with George when she hears Fred's question. "Yeah, I think I will."

* * *

  
The weeks of training are finally over, the last tests have been taken and finally Katie has completed her Auror training and been accepted into the department. time to celebrate. She owls the twins and asks them to meet her at a pub, she wants to have a good time – and if she knows anything it's that the twins are experts on how to have a good time.

"Lo' Bell." She hears his voice before she sees him, and she turns in her seat to greet him.

"Freddie," She looks over his shoulder, expecting to see another shock of red hair following close behind him.

"Sorry, Georgie couldn't make it, bit …. busy." He chuckles low in his throat, and Katie catches his drift.

"Well, I'm glad you weren't busy." She licks her lips. "Fancy having a drink with me?"   
"Do you really have to ask?" He laughs and takes the seat beside her before he orders himself a fire whiskey.   
"So you really did it then? You're an Auror now?" He asks as he sips at his drink.

There's something a bit different about this Fred, of course Katie hasn't seen him in months, but he's different – not so flighty, more focused. "Yeah, was accepted into the department this afternoon." She really is quite proud of herself.

"Little Katie Bell, gonna save the world now?" Fred teases her as he sips at his drink.

She glares at him and orders another drink. "Something like that."

"Gonna save me too?"

The question catches her off guard, and she looks at him for a moment before she's leaning forward wrapping and arm around his neck and pulling him down for a kiss – right there at the bar.

It's warm and inviting and leaves her breathless. She could happily kiss Fred for the rest of the night; maybe even take him to bed. He seems up for it, he's kissing her right back.

"Suppose I'll have to." She breathes against his lips as she pulls back just enough to catch a breath.

* * *

  
It's the middle of the night and he's knocking at her door. Katie is up and grabs her wand as soon as the first knock sounds. She stalks quietly through the flat towards the door, her wand raised high.

But when she opens the door she lowers her hand. "Fred? What are you doing here? It's the middle of the night."

Fred is leaning against the door jamb - a bottle in his hand. "Was in the neighborhood, though' I'd stop by." He slurred.

It was just after Christmas, just after the attack on the Burrow, just after …

"Come in here," She pulls him in and steadies him on the wall in her front hallway. "What have you been doing?"

She wraps her dressing gown tighter around herself against the cold that she let in with Fred. She's worried about him – he's been different since it happened. She hadn't been there that night, but she heard about it. None of the Weasleys were the same after that, how could they be? Molly held that family together and without her they all seemed lost.

"Jus' out having a good time, s'alright?" Almost defensive, like he wants her to say it's not. Fred leans his head back against the wall and takes another long swig of his drink before letting his hand fall heavily.

"Yeah sure, Freddie." She hasn't seen him like this before and it worries her. Fred was always cool and collected even when he was pulling his usual jokes and pranks. "Come on in." She turns and starts walking down the hall.

Fred is unsteady on his feet, having a hard time staying up without the wall right there beside him. Katie turns back and frowns, then takes his arm. "Come on." Instead of taking him to the living room, she leads him to her bedroom – he needs to lie down.

She lays him down in her bed, removing his shoes and taking the bottle still clutched in his hand, despite his weak protests. She takes off his pants too, so he'll be able to sleep, before she pulls the sheet and blanket over his legs.

Then she gets in bed beside him, curls up against his side, and rests a hand against his chest. She doesn't say anything, she doesn't need to, they both lay there in the quiet darkness of her bedroom.

"She's not coming back." His voice breaks, and she can hear the sob that wants to break loose.   
"No, love, she's not."

* * *

  
She's not sure how it happened. All Katie knows is that this is wrong – Fred Weasley sleeping with Angelina is wrong, he's not supposed to be sleeping with other women. Never mind that they're not really dating, and never mind that she's made no claims to him, and never mind that they've made no rules for this _thing_ that they have. All she knows is that it's wrong.

Merlin, when did this happen?

Fred Weasley is supposed to be her friend, her friend that she sleeps with occasionally, her friend that can always make her laugh, her friend that always knows what to say, her friend that kisses her better than anyone else ever has, her friend that she just might really happen to be completely in love with.

Weren't they just fighting? Wasn't he a complete arse for sleeping with Angelina? She wasn't supposed to be in love with him, and yet … when he said those words it was like suddenly everything slipped into place and she just knew.

"Fred, you idiot, I love you." And she's never meant anything more in her life. She throws her arms around his neck pulling him down for a kiss.

Eventually, Fred manages to pull his lips from hers for just a moment; he still can't believe that she's actually said it – that she really does love him. He was so sure there was no way she could ever feel the same way about him as he did about her, and yet here they were.   
"I mean it, you know."

At his words, she smiles – he's all she's ever wanted, it just took her a while to realize it.. "I know." And she slides a hand up into his hair, letting her fingers drag against his scalp. "So do I."

* * *

  
"Marry me…"

She's not sure she actually heard him right at first, and she just stares at him. Surely that's not what he said – marriage? She's never even really thought about it, she was never the pretend to play house and plan your wedding type of girl, and now suddenly out of the blue he's asking her to marry him.

"What? Did you just…." She pauses and presses her lips together in a small frown.

She didn't even know if she was ready for marriage. Marriage was the rest of her life, and yet … when she stopped to think about it, Katie couldn't even imagine a life where Fred wasn't in it. Especially not now, not since they'd been living together – since she realized she loved him.

"I did." Fred is shaking, his throat is dry and he can barely breathe. He's sure if she says no he'll just die, right there in bed with her – he will cease to be if he can't be with her. He never realized before just how much he really needs her – but he knows now after everything that he can't make it through the rest of his life without her. He's got to have her by his side.

"Yes." She is saying the answer before she realizes it, but it's so right. How could she even think to say no, when every part of her is saying that this is right.

"You will? Oh gods …" If he couldn't breathe before Fred is sure he's going to pass out now. She's said yes, she'll be his for the of his life – He's known that he needs her in his life, known for a while now, but now she needs him too, and Merlin it's almost more than he can take.

"Yes, I will." A grin is spreading slowly across her face, in that slow fluid way that they do when she's really and honestly pleased about something. She couldn't imagine having answered him in any other way. This was Fred – her Fred.

* * *

  
Their wedding is small and intimate, just family and a few close friends in a small chapel in Ottery. It is snowing lightly. Katie couldn't have dreamed up anything more beautiful. Afterwards, it's just her and Fred – after the wedding and reception and dancing they'd been whisked away to their little hide away in the mountains.

They have a small cabin all to themselves for a week, and nothing to do but start on living out the rest of their lives together. And Katie is going to make the best of their time alone together before they have to return to their lives and their jobs back in Hogsmeade.

She smiles and kisses lazy circles across Fred's chest, they've spent their first few hours as man and wife making sure they know each other completely – kissing and nibbling across every inch of exposed flesh. She feels completely sated, and completely at ease here in Fred's arms.

"So Freddie, whatever shall we do with ourselves this week?" She's still kissing across his chest, her lips dragging slowly over the warm expanses of his chest, pausing occasionally to nip at him.

"Well," He pauses for a moment to catch her off guard and roll her over onto her back, letting her hair splay out across the bed sheets. "I can think of a few things to start with, Katie Weasley." He lets a slow smile spread across his face before he dips his head to capture her lips yet again that night. He still hasn't gotten over the fact that she's taken his name – he loves the sound of it, and whispers it to her as often as he can.

His tongue presses into the warmth of her mouth, as he nudges her thighs apart with his knee to kneel between them. "Love you so much, Katie – I'm going to spend the rest of my life making sure you know that."

She bites her lower lip, looking up into his eyes. She's never known love like this before, love that encompasses every part of her, and flows out of her and into him and back to her again. She hadn't ever known it was possible, and yet here she is lying beneath the man she couldn't imagine being apart from ever again, and she knows without a doubt that she loves him completely.

And just as she arches her neck and lets her fingers curl around the back of Fred's neck to pull him down for another kiss, he arches his hips and is filling her once more. And she opens herself to him, taking him into herself completely

* * *

  
It has been four years since their wedding in that small chapel. Katie has loved every minute of being married to Fred – it's constantly an adventure with him. They've done so much together over the years and she can't imagine having done any of it without him by her side.

Now as winter is fading into spring once more, Katie's belly is rounded and full as she works on putting the final touches on their new nursery. She never thought she'd be the motherly type – she had dreams of being a mother some day, but she had no idea it would come so naturally for her.

She pushes a stray hair out of her face as she folds a blanket, laying it over the side of the crib Fred help her put together a few weeks earlier. Everything is ready for the newest member of their family – and she still can't believe it's happening already.

She has found everything she ever wanted in Fred, and yet he always manages to find one more thing that makes her fall even more in love with him, each day and every year.

She smiles when she feels the baby push against her stomach, making sure she knows it's there, almost ready to make it's grand entrance into the world and change their lives together. A hand slides around her belly, and she entwines her fingers easily with Fred, her eyes shining as she puts his hand over the spot where the baby is kicking.

"He's a wild one isn't he?" Fred whispers in her ear as he wraps his other around her belly, drawing her back against his chest. He's still marveling at this thing they've created together. It's almost too perfect and wonderful to be real and he wants to make sure he takes in every moment.

"She's just stretching," Katie says with a knowing grin.

"You think so?" He asks arching an eyebrow she can't see, but knows he's doing it anyway.

"Yeah."

"I don't know, feels like a wild Weasley to me." Fred chuckles softly against the side of her neck as he presses his lips against the warm skin there.

"We'll see in a few weeks, won't we, love?" she asks, as she slides her hand up over his forearm sighing happily and leaning back against him.

"Yes we will."

* * *

  
She opens the door slowly, just wanting to check in on the children before she goes to join Fred. She smiles softly as she sees the calm sleeping faces of her children in the moonlight that spills in from the windows. It's nice to see they can actually be still for more than one minute at a time – even if it's only when they're sleeping.

She shuts the door softly and pads down the hallway as quietly as she can. Pushing the door open to her bedroom, she grins when she sees Fred already in bed his eyes drooping shut already.

She climbs into bed beside him, curling up against his side and resting her head on his shoulder.

"Long day, love?" She asks quietly as she slides her hand over his chest and stomach.

He makes some sort of a grunt which she assumes is in the affirmative and she grins. "It's tough, taking care of those boys all day isn't it?"

Another grunt.

"And all you want to do is go do sleep now, don't you."

Grunt.

"Of course you do." She just smiles to herself and presses herself a bit more against his side; wrapping a leg over his and sliding her hand a bit lower down his stomach.

Fred sighs and Katie can feel him relax as her hand moves lower pushing beneath the fabric of his shorts. After only a few seconds Fred opens his eyes and arches an eyebrow at his wife before he growls and rolls over on top of her. She always could entice him easier than anyone else, and she knew it too. He is completely infatuated with her, just like he's been since they were kids - and sometimes he still can't believe that he's got her all to himself.

"You are insatiable, woman, you know that don't you?" He asks before he thrusts his tongue into the warmth of her mouth not giving her time to answer.

Katie just sighs with satisfaction beneath her husband as he kisses her again and spreads her thighs hungrily.

* * *

  
Fred grins as he watches his family come together, as they always do for the holidays, his children and their children fill the home to bursting and remind him so much of his childhood at the burrow - he knows his mum would be happy to see the way things have turned out for all of them. He sometimes can't believe that things ended up like this, he got the woman of his dreams and they made a beautiful family together - and Katie is still as playful and wonderful as she was the day he met her.

He throws himself down in a chair beside Katie, the children insisted she get out of the kitchen and let them do the rest of the cleaning. She is as willful as ever, but under threats of hexes they manage to get their mother out of the kitchen for the time being and into the living room to enjoy the festivities with the rest of the family.

"Decided to take a break I see." Fred teases her, his eyes twinkling with mirth.

"Something like that," she practically huffs. She can't believe her children have kicked her out of her own kitchen, and by threatening to hex her no less. This is supposed to be the holiday season - hexes were best left for after the holidays.

"Well I'm glad they got you out here, you shouldn't be missing this." Fred strokes the back of her hand affectionately, as he smiles at the scene around them. Children, presents, and brightly colored paper and bows litter the floor as their grandchildren play with their newest toys.

"I know," she sighs softly. She never thought things would end like this, that she would still be beside her Fred and surrounded by all their children and their children – it's more than she could have ever asked for when she was a girl and more than, she thinks, she ever could have deserved.

But Fred has been with her every step of the way, through all the ups and downs, and she has been there with him as well – making sure he doesn't get a big head, just like she'd promised him all those years ago.


End file.
